“The An-148 regional jet disappeared from radar screens shortly after takeoff from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport on Sunday afternoon. News reports said 71 people — 65 passengers and six crew — were aboard the plane heading for the city of Orsk, about 1,500 kilometers (1,000 miles) southeast of Moscow,” reported Associated Press.

“Fragments of the An-148 and several bodies plane have been found near the village of Stepanovskoye,” a ministry spokesman told TASS, the Russian state news agency.

We have received reports that an An-148 passenger plane that took off from Moscow’s Domodedovo for Orsk airport went missing from radars. A team of rescuers has been sent to the presumable crash site in Moscow region’s Ramensky district,” reported Russia’s Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya).

“The An-148 passenger plane of the Saratov Airlines [flight 730 from Moscow to Orsk] took off from the Domodedovo airport at 14:21 Moscow time. According to preliminary data, there were 65 passengers and six crew members aboard the plane. Radio contact with the plane was lost several minutes after the takeoff and the plane went out of the radars. In happened in Moscow region’s Ramensky district.”